When Nestlé wanted to promote its Drumstick brand sundaes with a personalized baseball card campaign, it partnered with Digital Printing & Imaging (DPI) to fulfill orders using an HP Indigo digital press. DPI was able to automate the printing and fulfillment of over 2 million custom cards for Nestlé without adding staff. The digital press allowed for high quality, low cost print-on-demand to meet Nestlé's goals. DPI continues to use the press to grow its business through automation while maintaining healthy margins.

1. Objective:
Customized printer output; cost efficient per-order
delivery
Approach:
Automated print-on-demand with HP Indigo press
5000 integrated with web-based ordering
Business benefits:
• Fixed costs known up-front
• Orders handled by existing staff
• High production quality meets clients’ needs
• Few human touch-points reduce risk of order errors
• Reporting provides data for program monitoring,
assessment
When Nestlé wanted to promote its Drumstick brand
sundae cones in a personalized baseball card
promotion, it turned to Digital Printing & Imaging, Inc.
(DPI) and its HP Indigo digital press for an automated
and cost-effective approach to web order fulfillment,
production and mailing.
Since then, DPI has processed web orders for more
than 2 million custom cards without adding extra shifts
to its production schedule—the latest business
accomplishment for a printer that has consistently
uncovered new growth opportunities even in times of
economic turbulence.
DPI helps Nestlé hit the sweet spot
HP Indigo digital press helps fill 1,000 baseball card orders daily
“The HP Indigo digital press lets us automate our workflows so that we can
grow our business without adding staff. Even in a slower economy, when we
can’t expect huge growth, it has the benefit of the healthy margins that
automation delivers.”
—Susan Moore, President, Digital Printing & Imaging, Inc.
HP customer case
study: HP Indigo
technology enables
innovative marketing
campaign
Industry: Printing

2. 2
Nestlé’s objective, explains DPI President Susan
Moore, was to build on the history of its Drumstick
brand baseball promotions. The campaign included a
Nestlé Drumstick Family Days tour organized to
promote the sponsorship of Minor League Baseball
(MiLB), an offer of discount tickets to baseball fans,
and family-friendly activities hosted at MiLB events. The
Drumstick promotion included a product code in
specially-marked packages, which allowed consumers
to upload digital images to a website. Here they
create personalized baseball cards that would be
printed and mailed directly to their homes.
“Nestlé approached us because it wanted to create a
highly personalized marketing campaign. Thanks to
our HP Indigo digital press, we could help them
achieve their vision. HP technology gives us
capabilities that we can turn into unique services for
our clients.”
Susan Moore, President, Digital Printing & Imaging, Inc.
Nestlé knew the program was aggressive; yet also felt
it was possible with the advances in technology. For
the campaign to be successful, the cards would have
to meet high standards for quality and match the look
and feel of “real” baseball cards. Costs would have to
be low since Nestlé wanted to position the cards as a
free giveaway, which wouldn’t be possible if the
company had to shoulder high printing costs or
maintain large inventories of materials. The workflow
would need to be digital and automated.
Quality exceeding anything else they’d seen
DPI had the technology needed to meet all of the
project’s criteria: an HP Indigo press.
First, there is the customization. The press supports
small-run print jobs, and thanks to its digital front end,
can be configured to accept print orders from a
website and produce jobs that include personal
information—a player’s picture, team name and
baseball stats, for instance.
Equally important, the HP Indigo digital press delivers
excellent production quality. “We provided Nestlé with
samples and they felt the output was almost
photographic,” Moore says. “They told us the quality
exceeded anything else they’d seen.”
Budgeting would also be a challenge. The HP Indigo
press 5000’s capabilities would enable DPI to offer
Nestlé a unique cost model to provide a solution.
Nestlé would assume the cost of the up-front

3. programming, such as developing the website and
software to process web-to-print orders. After that,
there were no more fixed costs: DPI would maintain
supply inventory and handle all of the program
administration. The program would pay for itself
through DPI’s shipping and handling charge on orders
as they came in.
This arrangement was particularly beneficial to Nestlé,
Moore explains, since the promotion was new, and
there was no way to predict how successful it might
be. “Because we’re doing print-on-demand, it didn’t
matter if the campaign resulted in a single order, tens
of thousands or millions—the up front investment to
Nestlé is the same,” Moore says. “They could create a
budget for the entire campaign and know the fixed
costs in advance. With the campaign success reaching
the millions, this proved to be a very successful
strategy.”
Automation minimizes human touch-points
DPI could offer this model, Moore says, because its HP
Indigo digital press workflows can be fully automated.
“When someone places an order, it is routed to the HP
Press Production Manager Server,” says Moore. “Then
HP Press Production Manager software automates the
job with the variable data and sends it to the print
engine.” Bar codes printed on the sheets are used to
track both the print job and the order. Address labels
are generated automatically when the job reaches the
finishing department.
“There aren’t many human touch-points,” Moore notes.
This keeps DPI’s labor costs low and order integrity
high. “By matching each order with the shipping
address the first time, we ensure uninterrupted
workflows,” Moore notes. This also keeps costs down
by reducing the risk of make-overs or
labor-intensive fixes.
So how did DPI’s capabilities score? “We came in at a
high perceived value for the cost as compared to the
other vendors Nestlé approached,” Moore states. The
combination of high production quality and cost
efficiency proved compelling, and Nestlé selected DPI
to administer its baseball card promotion.
Hundreds of orders, no extra staff
Since the program launched, Moore continues, web
orders have been flowing in at an average rate of 600
to 1,000 per day—a rate that adds up to around 2
million packs of cards for the duration of the program.
With automated technology, DPI has produced that
volume without expanding its normal two-shift
production schedule. “We knew we could handle up
to 1,000 orders a day with our current shifts,” Moore
says, “and if we needed to process more, we could
add another shift.”
The program has been entirely turnkey for Nestlé.
DPI maintains an 800-number so that customers can
call if they have questions. (Moore says DPI fields only
a few calls per week.) Copyright infringement issues,
such as users selecting a copyrighted team name for
their cards, are handled automatically by the software.
“The HP Indigo technology lets us offer
the customization required within the
budget set. We’ve shown how digital
printing can help businesses become
more creative with their marketing,
while reducing up-front risk.”
Susan Moore, President, Digital Printing &
Imaging, Inc.
3

4. “If someone types in a word that infringes on a
license, the software stops them,” Moore says.
DPI also generates monthly tracking reports for Nestlé
on program activity. The reports show order patterns
and how visitors navigate the website. “The reports
help Nestlé determine the success of the program and
the viability for future campaigns,” Moore notes,
“and whether adjustments should be made the next
time.”
Moore also believes customers are happy with the
cards. “We have no complaints, and many customers
are returning to upload new pictures and order
additional sets,” she says. “Repeat business is always
a good reinforcement.”
DPI believes the Nestlé program exemplifies the value
of automated digital printing. “The HP Indigo press
5000 and Press Production Manager server
let us automate our workflows so we can grow our
business without adding staff,” Moore says. “Last year
we grew our business by 42 percent without
expanding our workforce.” Even in a slower economy,
when DPI can’t expect that kind of growth, it has the
benefit of the healthy margins that automation delivers.
“HP Indigo technology lets us offer the customization
Nestlé requires, within budget,” Moore says. “The
program has truly shown how digital printing can help
businesses become more creative with their marketing,
while reducing their up-front risk.”
To learn more, visit www.dpiweb.com
© 2008 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change
without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements
accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional
warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
This customer’s results depended upon its unique business and IT environment, the way it used HP products and
services and other factors. These results may not be typical; your results may vary.
4AA2-2777ENW, October 2008
Customer solution
at a glance
Primary applications
• Web-to-print
• Print on demand
Primary hardware
• HP Indigo press 5000
marketing@dpiweb.com
404-228-8333 / 800-514-2505
Digital Printing & Imaging, Inc.
3240 Town Point Drive, NW
Kennesaw, GA 30144